Rail-joint chair.



PATENTED SEPT. 29, 1903.

UNITED STAT S Fatented September 29, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.-

TOM FITZGIBBON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THOMAS COGAN, OF GENESEO,'ILLINOIS.

RAIL-JOINT CHAIR.

srEoIFIoATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 740,115, dated September29, 1903. Application filed April 1, 1903. Serial No. 150,655. (No model.)

To an whom it mayv concern:

Be it known that I, TOM FITZGIBBON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago,

in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Im-.

provements in Rail-JointChairs, of which the following is a specification. I V

This invention relates to railways, and particularly to rail-joint chairs adapted to connect and hold rail ends firmly together without bolt-holes in the rails or in any part of the chair.

The object of the invention is to provide a boltless hinged or pivoted rail-joint chair controlled by a pawl carried by one of the hinged parts and working against the other hinge part.

A further objectof the invention is to pro- With these objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts and resides, essentiallyfin the peculiar hinge or pivot connection and the arrangement of the pawl.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the application of the chair. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the chair. Fig. 3 is across-section on the line w 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a cross=section on the line'y y, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pawl-plate. Fig. 6 is a similar View of the other plate.

The-same numeralreferences denote the same parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

The rails are of ordinary shape and construction, having a tread 1, web 2, and base 3, the latter fitting under a shoulder 4 of the chair-plates 5 and 6. The plate 5 has a depending flange 7, provided with a hinge or pivot,member 8 and a cavity having ridges or serrations 10, said member having an opening 11. The plate 6 has a like flange 12 and a lug or projection 13, working in the cavity 9 and provided with hinge or pivot pins 14, working in the pivot member 9.

One of the essential features of the invention is the pawl 15 and its cooperation with the chair-plates in their opening and closing. The pawlis pivoted in a recess 16 of the lug or projection 13', so that it may swing downwardly by its own weight to engage the ridges or serrations in the cavity to hold the plates in'engag'ement with the rails, and thus lock the chair to the rails and the latter together. To loosen the chair-plates, it is only necessary (bymeans of the opening 11) to push the pawl upwardly on its pivot sufficient for it to disengage the surface of the plate-cavity. The chair-plates may then be opened on their hinge or pivot partially or fully, as occasion may demand.

. It is obvious that in applying the chair to laid rails it is placed under and around the rail ends between the railroad-ties, so that the latter will not interfere with its locking and unlocking movements, and that the pawl works within the hinge or pivot parts and is accessible through the opening 11 without separating said parts. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure'byLetters Patent, isp 1. A rail-chair comprising a pair of plates hinged or pivoted together so as to be opened and closed against the rails,and a pawl carried by one of the plates and engaging the other plate to lock the plates in closed position.

2. A boltless rail-chair comprising a pair of plates, a hinge or pivot member, on each plate, and a pawl carried by one of said members and working against the other member to look the plates to the rails.

3. In a rail-chair, the combination with the plates having depending flanges, and connections between the flanges to hinge or pivot the plates together, of a pawl carried by one of the flanges and working against the other flange.

4. In a rail-chair, the combination,with the plates having depending flanges, a lugor pro- C, Ll

or pivot connection between the plates oomi prising a bearin g formed on one of the flanges and having an opening therethrough, a. recessed lug on the other flange-and provided with hinge or pivot pins working in said bearings, and a gravity-pawl pivoted in the recess over the opening to en gage the said bearing-flange.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

TOM FITZGIBBON.

Witnesses:

PAT COMLEY, FRANK C. LYoNs. 

